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Sneak peek of changes at Fort Morgan Museum

ByJENNI GRUBBS Times Staff Writer

Posted:
03/26/2013 12:45:34 PM MDT

Andrew Dunehoo holds up a figure of Fort Morgan High School football star Glenn Miller that will part of Fort Morgan Museum's new introductory exhibit during a tour at the Brown Bag Lunch on March 12, 2013. Dunehoo, who is project manager for the exhibits redesign project, said that showing people like Miller as they were in Fort Morgan, instead of how they may be remembered nationally, was an important aspect of the exhibit. (Jenni Grubbs/Fort Morgan Times)

The new ranching section at Fort Morgan Museum will feature some of the new rail cases with built-in drawers for the barbed wire collection, Andrew Dunehoo explains to the Brown Bag Lunch attendees during a sneak peek tour of the West Gallery on March 12, 2013. Otherwise, this gallery is closed to the public right now while exhibits are being redesigned. (Jenni Grubbs/Fort Morgan Times)

A group of local folks got a behind-the-scenes look at the big changes that are happening at Fort Morgan Museum during the March Brown Bag Lunch.

The monthly lunch typically features a guest speaker, slideshow or other presentation.

But this one involved a short walk around the closed West Gallery at the museum and a stop in the Lower Level Gallery to see some of the items that have yet to be installed as part of the exhibits redesign project.

Presenter Andrew Dunehoo led the group through the under-construction, mostly darkened gallery, weaving around the new but still empty wooden cases, ladders and trash cans that are part of the redesign process.

Brown Bag Lunch attendees look over the revamped sugar beet farming display that will part of the redesigned exhibits in Fort Morgan Museum's West Gallery. Contractor Traub Design Associates reused the old display but updated it so that it "looks like real water," did not have litter and had cleaned up beet plant leaves with realistic "bug bites," according to Andrew Dunehoo, project manager for the exhibits redesign. (Jenni Grubbs/Fort Morgan Time

Dunehoo, who was the director of library and museum services until he stepped down in mid-February, now serves as the museum's educator and the project manager for the exhibits redesign.

"It's a big endeavor, and it's been so nice to be a part of it," Dunehoo said of the redesign project. "When I first started here five years ago, I talked with (retired Museum Director) Marne (Jurgemeyer) about how I saw a lot of potential in the exhibits, and how I would like to be a part of" updating them.

Dunehoo said that was part of why he stepped down from the library and museum position, so that he could see the redesign project through to successful completion and return to the educator role that he had enjoyed so much.

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"This is going to be the gold standard," he said of the new exhibits, adding they will be "a source of imagination and education."

Frequent Brown Bag attendee Dicki Nuss said during the tour that it was good to see Dunehoo's "level of dedication" to the project.

And Dunehoo was visibly excited to share at the Brown Bag Lunch the progress that is being made and some of the changes that are coming.

"It's odd to look at an empty gallery, but there are some things that have come in," he said, preparing the group for what they were about to see.

Exhibits redesign project manager and Museum Educator Andrew Dunehoo shows Brown Bag Lunch attendees the new electrical wiring that will allow Fort Morgan Museum to have low-voltage LED lighting that will placed on "one long wire across the room." He said that the new lighting will be better for protecting the artifacts and will pay for itself over five years or so through much lower electrical costs for the city. (Jenni Grubbs/Fort Morgan Times)

"There are a few ladders, but it's a work in progress."

Still, the Brown Bag attendees all seemed excited to see what was happening in the museum.

Dunehoo did not disappoint, showing them the mostly completed new introductory exhibit, which features faces from the city's past.

"We've included as many people from all walks of life as we can," Dunehoo said, pointing out the artist's near-life-size watercolor renditions of photographs of real people, such as Abner Baker and John Bloedorn, as well as composite images of historical parts of the city's population.

Local superstars, such as musician Glenn Miller, were portrayed in the exhibit not as their later famous selves, but as how they were known in Fort Morgan. Miller is shown as the Fort Morgan High School football star that he was when he lived here.

"The reason for this introduction and the themes we've developed is" a new focus on the stories of the people and places over an emphasis on the related items, he explained.

Dunehoo said that while not all the figures in the introductory exhibit were bolted down yet, they would be permanently fixed in place once the West Gallery opens again.

"We will have a key -- a who's who," he said of the figure and face heavy display.

He explained that while the introductory exhibit was nearly finished, the ranching exhibit was only partly completed, and work on many of the other exhibits for the West Gallery was in underway, but they were not necessarily in the gallery yet.

The group got to see the new wooden cases that contractor Traub Design Associates had built for the new exhibits, including the one for the ranching exhibit that features drawers to hold the museum's barbed wire collection.

Dunehoo explained that the museum's old cases were being repurposed at other locations, including at the Brush Museum, Morgan Community College's Center for Arts and Cultural Enrichment, Fort Morgan High School and Café Lotus.

"The old casework has found good homes," Dunehoo said.

He also showed the Brown Bag attendees a couple of the new platforms built by city carpenters, other city workers and volunteers, and gave them an idea of where the new exhibits would be in the gallery, including displays on town building, the sugar beet factory and more.

Fort Morgan resident Dicki Nuss looks over an older model of the old fort from Fort Morgan Museum that is currently in the lower level gallery while the West Gallery upstairs undergoes a redesign. Nuss said she looked forward to seeing how the old fort would be portrayed in the new exhibits. (Jenni Grubbs/Fort Morgan Times)

Dunehoo said that the city and the Fort Morgan Heritage Foundation were seeking to use as many local vendors as possible for parts of the exhibit, including getting lumber from Bloedorn Lumber, and having electrical contracting done by Bruntz Electric.

"We're trying to keep it local where we can," he said. "And local vendors are helping keeps costs down by providing discounts."

Dunehoo also showed them the new electrical infrastructure funded by the city and installed recently as part of a plan to use to use more efficient directional LED lighting in the upstairs museum galleries.

The city had "generously" chipped in $42,000 toward the lighting change, and Traub Design Associates would be installing the new cable light infrastructure, which will stretch across the gallery on wires.

"We can attach several lights across the wire and put them where they're wanted," Dunehoo explained. "The current lamps are 300 halogen flood lamps."

Brown Bag attendee Ron Pflug asked whether the wires would be a problem for taller exhibits or displays.

Dunehoo said this was all part of the plan, with cables working well with the height of exhibits such as the expected windmill for the East Gallery.

He also said that the current energy cost to the city was about $3,000 per year, and the new lighting system would reduce that cost to about $106 per year.

Dunehoo said that this was what he and his boss, Community Development Director David Callahan, called "S cubed" -- a single synapse scenario, or almost a no-brainer.

Dunehoo said the city is "hoping it can become the litmus test for the whole city in moving toward" using green energy solutions.

"We're really excited," he said. "This can be a big step for us, not only for the museum, but for the whole city."

He said the current plan was to install the LED lighting system just in both the West and East Galleries at the museum, but it may also become something the city looks at doing for the Lower Level Gallery if both savings and more installation costs make sense for the city.

He said that the older, halogen system's bulbs have to be replaced every one to two years, but the new LED system's bulbs last 10-15 years.

"We hope to set a standard for the city in doing this," Dunehoo told the Brown Bag attendees. "Thankfully, we've got the backing of the (Fort Morgan City) Council for this," he said.

He said that the LED light system also would be better for the museum's artifacts and exhibits, as it "causes less damage," including fading or color changes.

"It will seem a little bit darker, but it's overall better light," Dunehoo said, explaining that the ceiling would be dark, but the displays would be lit up by the directional lighting, which he said "draws you in."

Other exhibits that are planned for the West Gallery will focus on Native Americans, the Old Fort, ranching and sugar beets.

And then there will be two Rainbow Bridge replicas going in between the two galleries to "bridge the old with the new," Dunehoo said.

Planned for the East Gallery redesign are exhibits on clubs and organizations, the glider school, agriculture, the windmill, a model of a Stinson airplane, a new Glenn Miller theater, schools, the Hillrose Soda Fountain with an artifact theater, energy production, other famous Fort Morgan residents, discussion panels and a possible marquee to display upcoming events.

Dunehoo also led the tour downstairs, where display cases and parts of revamped or new exhibits were being stored before being installed.

He showed them the sugar beet model that Traub Design Associates had remodeled so that parts of it "looks like real water," did not have litter and had cleaned up beet plant leaves that now had realistic "bug bites."

Also, the west side of the Lower Level Gallery houses many of the artifacts from the old exhibits so that people can still see them while the upstairs West Gallery is closed.

Dunehoo finished the tour by telling the group that the redesign project, which was primarily funded through a combination of donations and grants, had also received support from the Heritage Foundation and the city, but more donations still were needed.

"The Heritage Foundation generously kicked in the money, and the support of the community has been amazing," he said. "We've not yet reached our goal, but we're on our way."

Brown Bag Lunch attendees get a look March 12, 2013, at some of the new wooden cases and platforms that will be part of the new exhibits in the West Gallery at Fort Morgan Museum. Contractor Traub Design Associates built the cases, and city carpenters and volunteers will build the platforms. (Jenni Grubbs/Fort Morgan Times

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